A church service like no other!

Wow!  That is all I can say about my visit to the cathedral in downtown La Paz, last night. My host "Mom" is a regular church-goer and asked me to join her onn Wednesday night.  I thought it would be a good chance to see how Mexican's live and naturally, thank the creator for this great experience in Mexico.  The church looks normal to a passerby, but go inside during a mass, and be prepared for an amazing spectacle! The church service went on for hours, with people coming and going (all doors and windows are wide open and the noise is spilling into the streets).

You may ask, what is going on in there to attract such movement in the crowd?  Well, there is a full band playing in the corner, people singing and dancing salsa style, and a lot of the songs have actions and everyone is joining in!  I felt like I was at a rock concert/pep rally for God! Now that is the way to go to church! I understood some of the words, but the general feeling of gratitude to our creator and joy to be alive did not need any language! It was interesting that they sing a lot the same songs we do in a Catholic Church in Canada, so I could hum along with the tune,while waving my hands and twirling (really twirling in church!ha!) around with the song gestures.  I am occasional church-goer at home but in a place like this I would go more often.  At the end of the service, all visitors were asked to stand up, so I did.  At that point, about 30 people stampeded towards me and  and hugged me and welcomed me to Mexico.  It was quite a touching experience!